Ben Fran and the Backup Boys Clean House, 7-1

It’s turned into a waiting game, basically. Everyone is looking ahead to the postseason, which starts next week. The reserves stepped in once again on Hangover: Day 2, pushing the Phillies to a series win over the Nationals with a 7-1 victory. Ben Francisco jacked two home runs, John Mayberry and Mike Sweeney each added one and even though the game was rather meaningless (again) it gave the bench guys some good swings heading into the playoffs.

Francisco and Mayberry each knocked in three runs and Joe Blanton pitched seven solid innings. Blanton ends his year on a high note, one that started fairly ugly. He struck out six and allowed just three hits while tossing 107 pitches. He likely won’t pitch in the NLDS, so Charlie Manuel allowed him to go deeper than Roy Oswalt went last night.

As for the few regulars who saw time, Shane Victorino went 0-for-4 as did Jimmy Rollins who has scuffled at the plate the last two games. Wilson Valdez, if you want to call him a regular, played second base and finished 0-for-3 with a walk.

In his quest for a spot on the NLDS roster, Greg Dobbs went 2-for-4 with a couple of singles. Out in the pen, Romero, Madson, Lidge tossed two scoreless frames to end it.

Just one week. But before the playoffs, enjoy the final moments of what has been an awesome regular season. Let it last.

I think the rumors in the previous threads about Dobbs being on the postseason roster over Sweeney were just flotsam. Valdez can play 3rd, 2nd, and SS. Sweeney has a passable backup bat, and can play first to some extent. That covers infield defense substitutions; you then have a lot of flexibility with the remaining non-starter spots to use on the right combination of capable outfielders, bats, and bullpen pitchers. Dobbs is unnecessary.

I think it was precautionary in case Rollins goes down and Polly gets hurt or something. Though I’m sure Polly would tough it out, or Ruiz would move up to third (he was a 2nd baseman before he caught) and Schneider would catch, or something like that.

The Giants won again last night. Lincecum through 7 had 11 strike outs and gave up 6 hits, 1 run. All the run support he needed was provided by Pat the Bat – a three run dinger in the bottom of the 4th, his 20th.

Yes. If any of you haven’t visited that thread yet…the one entitled “Wilson Valdez’ Historic Season”….I invite you to read some of it now.

The author…and a few of his cohorts…apparantely wants us all to believe that Valdez is NOT one of the major reasons why the Phillies are where they are this season.

Any parade that was Wilson Valdez has been rained on pretty significantly by these clowns. I just said on that thread that the “horse has been beaten”…but after reading a comment or two on here just now…I couldn’t help but make mention of the topic.

I would be willing to put Sweeney, Francisco, or Chooch at third if PP goes down instead of wasting a roster spot on Dobbs. Unless something drastically changes in the last 3 games, I think Rollins will be a back-up – at least in the Div series – timing isn’t down at the plate, and looks very tentative in the field.

My first preference is that Rollins gets his timing back, if he doesn’t, then start Valdez. You’re probably right though – if Rollins can walk, he’ll start. The next question is where does Charlie put him in the BA? In his current condition, should be 7th or 8th.

As valuable as Valdez has proven himself to be in the infield, I don’t see Charlie lifting Jimmy unless his health becomes an issue or his back is against the wall. I would imagine that the reason for putting Valdez on the postseason roster is to back up Rollins, Polanco, and Utley, because he’s had significant playing time at both shortstop and second and he could probably play third if need be.

Ibanez and Werth have stayed pretty healthy all season and despite a slight downturn in offense production in the very recent past, Victorino has been, well, Victorino in the field. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I think it’s possible that Ben Francisco is the main outfield back-up and if there’s room for Domonic Brown, they’ll bring him along to back Werth up.

*tongue in cheek* And let’s not forget that in a true emergency, Oswalt can play left field if he doesn’t get the ball on any given night.

But, yeah, I’m thinking Rollins is getting a pretty long leash unless he reinjures himself or clearly isn’t up to par. He’s earned a long leash.

Plain and simple, why would you risk putting someone like Sweeney, Ben Francisco or Chooch at third if Poly goes down? You’ve got to have a legit 3rd baseman on hand and as much as we may not want to admit it, Dobbsy does a fair job at third. But, to put someone with no recent experience in the ‘hot corner’ in case your starter goes down? That would be foolish. Dobbsy has to be part of the rotation, earned or not.

Although he had a terrible world series, Dobbs was a critical part of the 08 team. His glovework was terrible, but a nice lefty off the bench, had as good a year as you can ask from a bench guy. Since then, he has been a liability to the team (defense or at the plate). He was done last year, regressed even more this year. I respect his 08, but would be perfectly happy to never see him bat again (at least in a Phils uniform). I wouldn’t want to risk a pitcher getting hurt at third, but would be happy with anyone else playing the position (prefer PP).

Dobbs is a below average fielder and he’s brutal at the plate. I don’t know how he managed any hits last night. It seems like he’s only capable of pop ups and strike outs. Cody Ransom was a better choice at 3rd.

Dobbs isnt a great fielder and worse at offense. Truth the matter is Polanco is hurt, Jimmy is hurt, im sure Utley is same. Im thinking he would get a Roster Spot just for the fact that any one of those guys can go down at any time and then that would leave just Valdez.

This quote is from the Denver Post 2007, I can’t vouch for it’s accuracy. But if correct, it answers a question some people have been asking about, whether Cholly should keep Greg Dobbs on the playoff roster.

My original thought was that despite the fact that I loathe Dobbs, having ONLY one extra utility infielder, Valdez, was a dangerous thing to do in case Jimmy is not really ready, and Polanco’s elbow prevented him from playing. But this seems to say that we don’t have to put Dobbs on the roster because if needed in an emergency we can keep him on standby, and change the roster for injury.

“Starting in 2007, a club may, with the permission of the commissioner, substitute for a player injured during a postseason series. Roster changes during the playoffs are rare but not unheard of.”

You guys are all crazy. Dobbs has been horrible this year, but if it’s between him and Brown, you have to go with Dobbs. He provides an extra, much-needed infielder. We’re not going to experiment with Chooch or Ben Francisco at third in the play-offs. That’s just insane.

Secondly, pinch-hitting is extremely difficult to do. The odds of getting a hit are incredible low. It’s not like Domonic Brown has lit the world on fire since coming up.

Thirdly, Dobbs is not our main pinch-hitter. If we desperately need an rbi, we got Gload. And lately, Dobbs has just been a “show-me” pinch-hitter so the other team will put in a lefty.

And finally, Cole, Oswalt and Halladay seem to be pitching well beyond 7 innings lately, so the whole idea might be moot. If they go out and dominate, when are we going to absolutely NEED a pinch-hitter to just get on base????

The fact is, we could probably go into the playoffs with 24 men if need be. Or if you want to get cocky, 3 starting pitchers, Madson, Lidge and the starting 8 plus Gload…. so that’s 14. So worrying about who the last guy is going to be, and arguing like idiots about it doesn’t really make sense, does it? We have the best record in the NL with Dobbs on the team!!!! OH MY GOD!! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!?!?!

The phils will be fine with Dobbs being the 25th man on the playoff roster.

Would think Schneider at catcher While I disagree, Dobbs will make it. Now that you can change rosters each series, the big question is whether KK makes the DS roster. With the amount of off days in the DS, only need 3 starters. KK has more bullpen experience than Blanton, but hope not to need either, Blanton is the better pitcher, and deserves the respect (plus we may need his bat!). It would be kind of a slap in the face to KK, but I think you leave him off, bring along Dom. The other option is to drop Contreras for KK. Should be interesting.

The remaining games are meaningless unless you’re Ben Francisco or Domonic Brown or Wilson Valdez or Jimmy Rollins, in which case they’re completely meaningful. Truthfully, I would love to see the Phillies knock the Braves out of the postseason (a first round match-up against the Padres would be better than a first round match-up versus the Giants) but the Phillies aren’t going to make that a top priority… they can beat anyone and they know that rest and health is more important than a match up. So if the Phillies don’t care, I can’t really care, either. I hope that we see the Dr. Jeckyll version of KK (not Mr. Hyde)… I hope that we beat the Braves but I won’t shed a tear if we don’t.

I was looking back at the PN 2010 predictions of the NLE- must give a standing ovation to the guys who made the predictions. They looked like this back in April:

1. Phillies (94-68)… we’ll end up with 95-98 wins
2. Braves (90-72)… will end up with 90-93 wins)
3. Marlins (86-76)… will end up with 77-81 wins
4. Mets (80-82)… will end up with 77-81 wins
5. Nats (69-93)… will end up with 68-71 wins

I guess it’s not rocket science, especially in the NLE (the missed in the other divisions) where things ended up a lot like the prior year. The Padres came out of nowhere so I give them a free pass there but they predicted that the Reds would finish 4th and drew a lot of criticism from the readers who said that their assessment was harsh considering the young talent on the Reds squad… so they get an A++ in the division that matters and C- in the others (and that’s probably generous).

Unlike the Valdez string yesterday, I’d hesitate to bring up the points mentioned here as arguing like idiots. Sure, we all know Dobbs will be on the roster, just wishing for another alternative. While Dobbs has very little to offer (do you really think Sweeney, Chooch, Francisco, or even Roy Oswalt would be any worse at third?), there is no way Charlie takes that chance. Bring Dobbs along, and it is the fault of Rube,…, for not finding another utility infielder that apparently grow on trees. Don’t bring him, and be prepared to get second guessed.

Chuck,
I don’t think we need to put him on the roster, the link seems to imply that you can call up a player for injury replacement. Hopefully Pat or someone will check into it, to see if
a) the writer was correct or b) my interpretation of it was correct.
Read it and let me know what you think.

That leaves 5 spots… I think that you can lump Rollins in there as long as he shows us that he’s not still injured over the next few games. I also think you have to keep Bastardo as another lefty.

That leaves 3 spots… I think that you have to keep at least one more pitcher to give us 11, total and it’s between Baez, Herndon, Kendrick and Worley. I think that he’ll go with Worley; he went with Bastardo last year without really knowing what he had and I think he’ll do the same but he could go with Herndon or Baez. The other 2 bench spots should belong to guys that can actually make a difference if called upon. The reason that Rollins isn’t a guarantee is because if Charlie looks at this thing and says, “I don’t think it’s worth keeping Dobbs around to protect Jimmy.” He could hold off adding him to the roster until the NLCS (if he gets healthy). If he looks at it and says, “Jimmy’s not a problem, I’m going with the best team.” I think your bench guys are Brown and Sweeney. If he looks at it and says, “I need to be careful.” We’ll see Dobbs and one of Brown or Sweeney (probably Sweeney b/c Dobbs is a lefty). My prediction: the final 3 in are Sweeney, Brown and Worley. First four out: Baez, Herndon, Kendrick, Dobbs.

If this is correct,/ if I’m reading it correctly- we don’t need to talk about this anymore. I think it says no matter who you decide for your 25, you can still get an emergency replacement with commisioners approval. In which case Charlie would go “with the best possible team”.

I’m also not very confident that Brown makes the team… Charlie’s hand is kind of forced here unless Rollins is 100%. It stinks because if Dobbs makes the team, I can’t envision any situation where I would rather see him at the plate than Brown BUT you have to have 2 backup infielders if those guys aren’t healthy or else you’re really vulnerable.

I want to sweep the Braves… I REALLY prefer facing the Padres (WC team) instead of the Giants. But if it looks like the Braves will make it, then I hope the Reds finish behind the Giants so that we face them instead.

I guess that means I’ll be cheering for the Padres… and for whichever team plays against the Reds!

jay i agree lincum,cain,sanchez can be scary in a 5 game series…reds are offensive team that is a young lineup i kinda wanna face them i don’t even think they know who starting game 1 for them but i think it’ll be arroyo or cueto.

My thing is can J-Roll get enough timing back in his remaining 12 or so at bats. Its really a shame because he look like he was on to something just before he went out again. We all know Cholly will go with a struggling J-Roll than Valdez. I think we all know he will get the lead off spot to. Vic was going on a tear there for a while before cooling down again. This year brings in some new challenges as oppose to previous years. If anyone can get it together it be this group.

I agree with Andrew…for once. I would definately go with Dobbs over Brown for the final position. Dobbs has more experience as a pinch hitter, and people don’t realize that he has come through with a few big home runs this year. Also, Brown strikes out way too much, and as a young player in the post season coming up for 1 ab to do something for your team, I would go with Dobbs’ experience in that situation over a strikeout-prone, inexperienced Brown anytime.

Dobbs doesn’t strike out nearly as often as Brown. Since he stopped being a starter, Brown has struck out every other at-bat it seems…he’s just not a clutch player at this point, and is even less reliable than Dobbs.

When they released Juan Castro they should of looked for a replacement. Even if they could of stuff said replacement in the minors to be called up. Or brought up a minor leaguer i think they where banking on Dobber to get a reasonable grove back. Now we have to hope that no one in the infield gets hurt and that Rollins is up to par. Rollins will get the start unless there is something seriously wrong with him even if he goes 1-20. Cholly wont likely pull him to it gets to the melting point or an injury. Resting him isnt much of an option and may not even help he needs some at bats. Is a 70% healthy J-Roll more of a threat than a healthy Valdez. That is the question and im sure Cholly would say yes. Of course there is no way of knowing since we dont know how serious it is nor Im I a doctor and if I where a Doctor i didnt evaluate his condition. So at this point its between J-Roll, Cholly, Raj, and trainers/medical staff.

Sd lost again they are done.
Really no one wanted to make it in the NL.
NL comes in with 2 hot teams Philly and SF. Pat the bat carrying the Giants.
Id like to have Browns speed in the playoffs as a pinch runner.
The Reds have some bats and a decent pen but the SP heavily favors the phils. If I am the Reds I start Travis Wood in game 1. He is thier starter who scares me.

Anyway, I’m still grinding my teeth on the Dobbs v Brown issue. I guess this is the only – THE ONLY – circumstance under which I can see myself saying Dobbs should go rather than Brown. I don’t think Brown’s up to it.

Well let me say this: I don’t think Dobbs is up to it either, but he’s, uh, less not up to it than Brown. Right, a ringing endorsement. That’s the best I can muster right now.